Old Nick

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Nick or Old Nick is a well-known appellation of the Devil. The name appears to have been derived from the Dutch Nikken, the devil, which again comes from the Anglo-Saxon nac-an, to slay–for as Wachter says the devil was “a murderer from the beginning.” In the northern countries there is a river spirit named “Neck,” “Nikke,” or “Nokke” of the same nature as the water Kelpie, and the Merman of Triton. A.G.H.